Electric folding apparatus

ABSTRACT

An electric folding apparatus includes a lower body unit, a back unit, a waist unit, a back actuator, and a waist actuator. The back unit is rotatably connected with the lower back unit. The waist unit is rotatably connected with the back unit. The back unit is swung with the waist unit relative to the lower back unit by the back actuator when a first push rod moves into or out of a first cylinder. The waist unit is swung relative to the back unit by the waist actuator when the second push rod moves into or out of the second cylinder. Accordingly, users can adjust a protruding extent of the waist unit relative to the back unit according to the personal demands and adjust the waist unit to be level with a top of the back unit easily when they don&#39;t want to use the waist supporting function.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to folding apparatuses for being leaned by the back and more particularly, to an electric folding apparatus.

2. Description of the Related Art

A conventional folding apparatus such as a folding bed, chair, and etc., whose chair back or bed back is adjustable by a user, so that the user can choose taking a rest on the folding apparatus in a lying posture or a sitting posture freely. In addition, the user can change postures for back supporting by adjusting the folding apparatus, so as to achieve different usage demands such as reading a book, taking a nap, or watching TV on the folding apparatus in suitable postures. Some of the folding apparatuses even have a waist supporting apparatus corresponding to user's waist and protruded from the chair back or the bed back to support user's waist, so as to further elevate comfortable feeling. However, a conventional waist supporting apparatus is fixed on the folding apparatus in general and can't be removed when the user don't want to use it. Alternatively, a conventional waist supporting apparatus's protruding extent protruded from chair back or bed back thereof is not adjustable by the user. Therefore, these folding apparatuses having waist supporting apparatus are still in many ways inconvenient to use and need to be improved.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been accomplished in view of the above-noted circumstances. It is an objective of the present invention to provide an electric folding apparatus which can let a user adjust a position of a waist supporting apparatus with convenient.

To attain the above objective, the present invention provides an electric folding apparatus which includes a lower body unit, a back unit, a waist unit, a back actuator, and a waist actuator. The back unit is rotatably connected with the lower back unit. The waist unit is rotatably connected with the back unit and located between the lower body unit and the waist unit. The back actuator's two ends are rotatably connected with the lower body unit and the back unit, and the back actuator has a first cylinder and a first push rod movable into and out of the first cylinder. The back unit is swung with the waist unit relative to the lower back unit by the back actuator when a first push rod moves into or out of a first cylinder. The waist actuator's two ends are rotatably connected with the back unit and the waist unit, and the waist actuator has a second cylinder and a second push rod movable into and out of the second cylinder. The waist unit is swung relative to the back unit by the waist actuator when the second push rod moves into or out of the second cylinder.

Accordingly, a protruding extent of the waist unit relative to the back unit can be adjusted when the waist actuator drive the waist unit to swing, so as to satisfy different usage demands of user for different waist supporting extents. In addition, the user can adjust the waist unit to be level with the back unit easily in a situation that the user don't want to use the waist supporting function.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an electric folding apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a bottom view of the electric folding apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a part of the electric folding apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention, showing that a back unit is at a lying position and a waist unit is at a non-waist supporting position.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a part of the electric folding apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention, showing that the back unit is at a back supporting position and the waist unit is at the non-waist supporting position.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a part of the electric folding apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention, showing that the back unit is at the lying position and the waist unit is at a waist supporting position.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a part of the electric folding apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention, showing that the back unit is at the back supporting position and the waist unit is at the waist supporting position.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring to FIGS. 1-3 showing an electric folding apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention, the electric folding apparatus 1 includes a lower body unit 10, a back unit 20, a waist unit 30, a back actuator 40, a waist actuator 50, and four brackets 60. The electric folding apparatus 1 can be an electric bed or an electric chair and is adapted for a bed mattress or a soft mattress (not shown) to be placed thereon.

The lower body unit 10 includes a hip unit 11 corresponding to user's hip, a thigh unit 12 connected with the hips unit 11 and corresponding to user's thigh, and a shank unit 13 connected with the thigh unit 12 and corresponding to user's shank. In the following description, the direction would be defined according to a view of FIG. 2. The hip unit 11 has a hip frame 111, a hip supporting board 112 disposed on a top of the hip frame 111, and an actuator pivoting portion 113 located at a right side 111 a of the hip frame 111. The thigh unit 12 has a thigh frame 121 connected with the hip frame 111 and a thigh supporting board 122 disposed on a top of the thigh frame 121. The shank unit 13 has a shank frame 131 connected with the thigh frame 121 and a shank supporting board 132 disposed on a top of the shank frame 131.

It should be noticed that, the lower body unit 10 of the present embodiment is composed of three units, however, a structure thereof can be modified, and the lower body unit 10 may be composed of a single unit, two units, or more than three units. Nevertheless, the lower body unit 10 at least has a lower body frame 14 (as the hip frame 111 of the present embodiment) and a lower body supporting board 15 (as the hip supporting board 112 of the present embodiment) disposed on a top 141 of the lower body frame 14.

The back unit 20 includes a back frame 21 rotatably connected with the lower body unit 10 by a right side 21 a thereof and a back supporting board 22 disposed on a top 211 of the back frame 21. The back frame 21 has a upper back portion 212, a lower back portion 213 extended toward a right side of FIG. 2 from the upper back unit 212 and rotatably connected with the lower body unit 10, a back pivoting portion 214 extended downwardly and rightwardly from the lower back portion 213, and a waist pivoting portion 215 extended downwardly from the upper back portion 212. The back unit 20 is corresponding to a position of user's back.

The waist unit 30 includes a pivoting base 31 and a waist supporting board 32. The pivoting base 31 has a connecting portion 311 and a pivoting connecting portion 312 extended downwardly from the connecting portion 311. The waist supporting board 32 is disposed on a top 313 of the connecting portion 311. In this embodiment, two hinges 70 are connected with the back supporting board 22 of the back unit 20 and the waist supporting board 32 of the waist unit 30, respectively, so that the waist unit 30 is rotatably connected with the lower body unit 10. In addition, the waist unit 30 is located between the lower body 10 and the back unit 20 and corresponding to a position of user's waist.

It should be noticed that, these hinges 70 are used for the waist unit 30 to be swingable relative to the back unit 20. In other embodiments, structures of the back frame 21 and the pivoting base 31 can be modified, so that the pivoting base 31 is rotatably connected with the back frame 21 without disposing these hinges 70. In addition, the lower body unit 10, the back unit 20, and the waist unit 30 of the present embodiment are a structure that a supporting board (such as the lower body supporting board 12, the back supporting board 22, or etc.) is disposed on a frame (such as the lower body frame 11, the back frame 21, or etc.) or the pivoting base 31. In other embodiments, the aforementioned structure of the units can be modified, for example, the frame and the supporting board can be replaced by a net rack, the frame or the pivoting base 31 can be respectively embedded in corresponding supporting boards, a bed mattress, a soft mattress, or any cushion object which can be leaned by the user conveniently and comfortably can be placed on the supporting board, or the supporting board can be eliminated.

Two ends of the back actuator 40 are rotatably connected with the lower body unit 10 and the back unit 20, and the back actuator 40 has a first cylinder 41 and a first push rod 42 movable into and out of the first cylinder 41. In this embodiment, the first cylinder 41 is rotatably connected with the actuator pivoting portion 113 of the lower body unit 10, and the first push rod 42 is rotatably connected with the back pivoting portion 214 of the back unit 20. In other embodiments, the positions of the first cylinder 41 and the first push rod 42 can be swapped, i.e., the first cylinder 41 is rotatably connected with the back pivoting portion 214 of the back unit 20, and the first push rod 42 is rotatably connected with the actuator pivoting portion 113 of the lower body unit 10.

Two ends of the waist actuator 50 are rotatably connected with the back unit 20 and the waist unit 30, and the waist actuator 50 has a second cylinder 51 and a second push rod 52 movable into and out of the second cylinder 51. In this embodiment, the second cylinder 51 is rotatably connected with the waist pivoting portion 215 of the back unit 20, and the second push rod 42 is rotatably connected with the pivoting connecting portion 312 of the waist unit 30. In other embodiments, the positions of the second cylinder 51 and the second push rod 52 can be swapped, i.e., the second cylinder 51 is rotatably connected with the pivoting connecting portion 312 of the waist unit 30, and the second push rod 52 is rotatably connected with the waist pivoting portion 215 of the back unit 20.

It should be noticed that, two ends of the back actuator 40 and the waist actuator 50 are rotatably connected with the actuator pivoting portion 113 of the lower body unit 10, the back pivoting portion 214 of the back unit 20, the waist pivoting portion 215 of the back unit 20, and the pivoting connecting portion 315 of the waist unit 30, respectively, however, this structure can be modified, the back actuator 40 has only to be rotatably connected with the lower body unit 10 and the back unit 20, respectively, and the waist actuator 50 has only to be rotatably connected with the back unit 20 and the waist unit 30, respectively.

These four brackets 60 are respectively disposed on a top side of the back supporting board 22 and a tail side of the lower body supporting board 12, two by two, for preventing the bed mattress or the soft mattress from displacing. It should be noticed that, in other embodiments, an amount and positions of the aforementioned brackets 60 can be modified or even be eliminated.

The aforementioned description is related to a structure design of the electric folding apparatus 1, in the following, a control method of adjusting the back unit 20 and the waist unit 30 would be described later with FIGS. 3-6 based on this structure design.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, when the first push rod 42 of the back actuator 40 moves out of the first cylinder 41 as the back actuator 40 is stretched, the back actuator 40 can drive the back unit 20 to swing upwardly with the waist unit 30 relative to the lower body unit 10. When the first push rod 42 is stretched to its limit, the back unit 20 would stop swinging upwardly and be located at a back supporting position B1 as shown in FIG. 4. On the other hand, when the first push rod 42 moves into the first cylinder 41 as the back actuator 40 is shortened, the back actuator 40 can drive the back unit 20 to swing downwardly relative to the lower body unit 10, and eventually the back unit 20 would be swung to a lying position B2 as shown in FIG. 3.

Accordingly, the user can drive the back unit 20 to be swung by the back actuator 40 easily, the back unit 20 can be lifted without effort, and the user can choose using the electric folding apparatus 1 in a lying posture or a sitting posture easily. It should be noticed that, the back actuator 40 can be designed to drive the back unit 20 to be stopped at any position between the back supporting position B1 and the lying position B2, to satisfy user's demands for different situations such as reading a book, watching TV, sleeping, and etc.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 5, when the second push rod 52 of the waist actuator 50 moves out of the second cylinder 51 as the waist actuator 50 is stretched, the waist actuator 50 can drive the waist unit 30 to swing upwardly relative to the back unit 20. When the second push rod 52 is stretched to its limit, the waist unit 30 would stop swinging upwardly and be located at a waist supporting position W1 as shown in FIG. 5. On the other hand, when the second push rod 52 moves into the second cylinder 51 as the waist actuator 50 is shortened, the waist actuator 50 can drive the waist unit 30 to swing downwardly relative to the back unit 20, and eventually the waist unit 30 would be swung to a non-waist supporting position W2 as shown in FIG. 3, in the meantime a top 301 of the waist unit 30 is leveled with a top 201 of the back unit 20.

It should be noticed that, FIG. 5 shows the waist actuator 50 drives the waist unit 30 to swing in a situation that the back unit 20 is located at the lying position B2. Then referring to FIG. 6, when the back unit 20 is driven by the back actuator 40 to stop at the back supporting position B1, the waist unit 30 still can be driven by the waist actuator 50 to swing and stop at the waist supporting position W1. Accordingly, the user's waist can be supported because of a protrusion of the waist unit 30 when he/she sits. In addition, the embodiment of the present invention is not limited in such scenario that the back unit 20 is stopped at the back supporting position B1 or the lying position B2, the waist unit 30 still can be swung by the waist actuator 50 even during the back unit 20 swings between the back supporting position B1 and the lying position B2.

Accordingly, the waist unit 30 can be protruded from the back unit 20 by the waist actuator 50 in the embodiments of the present invention, to support user's waist. When the user do not want to prop waist thereof against the waist unit 30, simply control the waist actuator 50 to let the waist unit 30 be swung to the non-waist supporting position W2. In addition, the waist actuator 50 can be designed to drive the waist unit 30 to be stopped at any position between the waist supporting position W1 and the no-waist supporting position W2, so that the user can adjust a protruding extent of the waist unit 30 protruded from the back unit 20 to change an effect of supporting waist.

The above description represents merely the preferred embodiment of the present invention, without any intention to limit the scope of the present invention. The simple variations and modifications not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit of the invention are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. An electric folding apparatus comprising: a lower body unit; a back unit rotatably connected with the lower body unit; a waist unit rotatably connected with the back unit and located between the lower body unit and the back unit; a back actuator, two ends of which are rotatably connected with the lower body unit and the back unit, and having a first cylinder and a first push rod movable into and out of the first cylinder, the back unit being swung with the waist unit relative to the lower back unit by the back actuator when the first push rod moves into or out of the first cylinder; and a waist actuator, two ends of which are rotatably connected with the back unit and the waist unit, and having a second cylinder and a second push rod movable into and out of the second cylinder, the waist unit being swung relative to the back unit by the waist actuator when the second push rod moves into or out of the second cylinder.
 2. The electric folding apparatus as claimed in claim 1, when the first push rod moves out of the first cylinder, the back unit is swung upwardly relative to the lower back unit.
 3. The electric folding apparatus as claimed in claim 1, when the second push rod moves out of the second cylinder, the waist unit is swung upwardly relative to the back unit.
 4. The electric folding apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the back unit comprises: a back frame, a side of which is rotatably connected with the lower body unit; and a back supporting board disposed on a top of the back frame.
 5. The electric folding apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein the back frame has a back pivoting portion for rotatably connecting an end of the back actuator.
 6. The electric folding apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein the back frame has a waist pivoting portion for rotatably connecting with an end of the waist actuator.
 7. The electric folding apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the waist unit comprises: a pivoting base, having a connecting portion; and a pivoting connecting portion extended downwardly from the connecting portion and for rotatably connecting an end of the waist actuator; and a waist supporting board disposed on a top of the connected portion.
 8. The electric folding apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the lower body unit comprises: a lower body frame, a side of which is rotatably connected with the back unit; and a lower body supporting board disposed on a top of the lower body frame.
 9. The electric folding apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein the lower body frame has an actuator pivoting portion for rotatably connecting an end of the back actuator.
 10. The electric folding apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first cylinder is rotatably connected with the lower body unit, and the first push rod is rotatably connected with the back unit.
 11. The electric folding apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first cylinder is rotatably connected with the back unit, and the first push rod is rotatably connected with the lower body unit.
 12. The electric folding apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the second cylinder is rotatably connected with the back unit, and the second push rod is rotatably connected with the waist unit.
 13. The electric folding apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the second cylinder is rotatably connected with the waist unit, and the second push rod is rotatably connected with the back unit.
 14. The electric folding apparatus as claimed in claim 1, comprising at least two hinges connected with the back unit and the waist unit, respectively. 